Remnants of Distant Days
by Alatus
Summary: Cloud visits the past: pizza with strange toppings, tackle-glomps, and a roommate with scruffy black hair. One Shot. R&R!


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Final Fantasy 7

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**The door swung open silently, casting bright sunshine into the dim corridor. A young man stepped inside, feet echoing loudly through the hard cement corridors that stretched out like a maze before him. The door hissed softly shut behind him, casting the hallways once again into its snug darkness.**

**Slowly he moved down the hall, pausing only once as he reached the staircase, recalling where to go. He made his way up the steps, his boots clattering loudly in the barren hall. He passed the next landing, continuing upward until he reached the fourth. He paused again there, casting his gaze at the railing, peering between the posts to the ground floor below.**

"Hey! You ugly! Put the kid with the spiky hair down before I have you kicked out of here! …If I ever catch you doing something like that again, I'll have your ass kicked out of here faster than you can say SOLDIER… Hey kid, you alright?"

**He sighed softly, brushing a lock of blond hair from his eyes. He lingered for only a moment longer before pulling away from the railing, letting his feet carry him down a familiar path that only they could clearly remember.**

"Are you sure about this?"

"Relax Spiky. It's not like we're breaking any rules."

"I don't know…"

"Loosen up, you worry too much."

"I-I do not!"

"Then help me move your stuff already. Like I was telling you, there's plenty of room since I bugged my last roommate out."

"That's not reassuring."

"It isn't?"

"You're supposed to be a SOLDIER first class!"

"Yeah? So? What's wrong with sharing my room with a friend?"

**The hall was silent, each door shut and locked except for the very last one which he currently stood before. His sky blue eyes studied the faded piece of paper stuck to the thick oak door, surprised that it was still there. Tentatively, almost fearfully, he raised his hand, brushing his fingers over the faded penciled letters. Then with a deep breath, he pushed the door open.**

"Cloud!" the joyful yell was accompanied by a shriek as the young blond was tackled to the ground by his roommate. "Miss me? Didya didya?"

"Zack, you're crushing me!" gasped Cloud, struggling to push the dark haired man off him.

"Well that's a nice how ja do," complained Zack sulkily.

Cloud shot him a death glare, roughly shoving at the SOLDIER, even though he knew it was futile. After a few more moments, Zack finally relented, allowing the blond to wiggle free of his grip. Cloud instantly stood, brushing himself off, the scowl still on his face. Zack watched him march into the small apartment from where he lay leisurely across the doormat.

"So did you miss me?" asked the dark haired man again, propping his head up on his elbows.

"Hardly," retorted the blond, "you were only gone three days."

"But a very lonely three days they were," answered Zack, finally sitting up so he could watch his roommate over the couch. The blond had his back to Zack as he moved around the kitchen. "You didn't miss me at all?"

"No," came the instant reply.

"Not even a bit?"

"No."

"Not even a tinsie bitie bit?"

Cloud shot him another death glare over the counter. "Not in the slightest," he enunciated.

Zack made an overly dramatic woeful sniff, looking to all the world like he was going to cry. "That's meaaaaan!" he practically wailed. "I'm gone for three days and my mean old roommate doesn't even care. You're so cruel! You're the cruelest roommate in existence!" Cloud merely rolled his eyes, not at all affected by Zack's waterworks.

"I was enjoying the peace and quiet, I never get any of that with you around. I actually managed to get some homework done around here, didn't have to risk going to the lib-" He cut himself off, realizing what he'd just been about to say. He yanked the small refrigerator open, hiding behind the door.

Zack was instantly on his feet, moving towards the kitchen area. "What're you talking about?" he demanded, expression serious. "Cloud?"

The blond didn't look at him, his hand tightening on the handle of the fridge. "It's nothing," he stated.

"You're sure?" pressed Zack, though he wasn't convinced.

"Yes," he answered flatly, glowering at the SOLDIER over the fridge door.

Zack sighed, raising his hands in a peaceable gesture. "Alright then."

A silence fell over the small apartment as Cloud went back to searching through the fridge. Zack sighed softly, flopping down on a chair around their kitchen table, leaning an elbow on the wooden surface. After a moment the blond joined him with a bottle of water in his hand.

The dark haired man idly watched him, waiting to see if the recruit would crack if he stared long enough. Sadly, the plan failed, mostly due to the fact that Zack had the attention span of a moogle and Cloud was quite capable of ignoring him for the rest of the evening.

"Alright!" declared Zack, throwing his hands in the air. "You win!"

He crossed his arms, proceeding to sulk as Cloud smirked at him. The blond's victory only lasted a second as a mischievous grin began to spread across Zack's face.

"What did you do?" demanded the blond, instantly fearful.

"Oh nothing," answered Zack in a sing song voice. Cloud narrowed his eyes at him. "I just took the liberty to order dinner that's all."

"What did you order this time?" he asked with growing trepidation. Zack blinked at him innocently. "Please don't tell me it's another one of those insane pizzas of yours."

The grin grew larger, confirming Cloud's suspicion before Zack even opened his mouth. "Alright, I won't tell you then."

Cloud let out a low wail, banging his head against the table, the SOLDIER wincing at the impact. "Zaaaaack! Your last one poisoned me!" his voice was slightly muffled from being pressed against the wooden surface. "I was sick for a week!"

"Relax, this one will be great! I promise!"

"I've lost track of how many times you've said that, Zack. I was sick to my stomach and I never want to go through that again, you hear me, N-E-V-E-R!"

Zack merely shook his head sadly, leaning back in his chair. "You shouldn't have eaten so much of the pizza then."

The blond's head came up again, giving Zack his famous glower. "I didn't," he growled.

"Yes you did," insisted Zack.

"No I didn't!"

"Did!" laughed the dark haired man, ruffling the blond's hair.

"Zack," the deadliness in Cloud's tone made Zack pause. The blond's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, the promise of pain clear in his expression. Zack blinked innocently, as though he didn't know what it was that was ticking off the blond so much. "Get-your-hand-off-my-head-Zack." Cloud slowly enunciated the words, with the faint hope that at least one of them would penetrate Zack's ridiculously thick skull. Sadly, no such luck.

A devilish grin spread across Zack's face, his hand curling more in the blond's hair. "Or what, Spiky?" He gave Cloud's hair an extra ruffle for emphasis.

"Die!" yelled Cloud, lunging across the table right at the dark haired man. Zack squawked with surprise, taken completely off guard by the sudden attack. The blond crashed into him, toppling the chair over and them with it. As soon as the chair back hit the floor, Zack threw the blond off himself, sending Cloud tumbling across the floor and onto the living room carpet.

"Ouch," moaned Cloud from where he lay. "That hurt…"

"Oh Cloudy," the evil sing song of Zack's voice, had Cloud sitting bolt upright, only to catch a pillow right in the face. "GOAL!" shouted Zack triumphantly, pumping his arm in the air. "Right between the eyes!" Cloud let out an infuriated yell, chucking the pillow with all his might right back at the SOLDIER.

"Missed!" laughed the dark haired man, easily ducking under the projectile.

Cloud, meanwhile, had scrambled to his feet, snatching up a cushion off a nearby chair. With a fierce battle cry he raised his floppy weapon, charging blindly forward. Zack grinned at him, easily stepping just out of range of each of the blond's wild attacks.

"Hey you must have been practicing while I was away, you've improved," complimented Zack while ducking under another swing that had been aimed at his head. He glanced over at the door as someone knocked on it. "Hey! The pizza's here!" He jumped back as Cloud took a horizontal swipe at him, before swinging his leg around and tripping the blond. The cadet yelped as he impacted with the carpet again with a loud thump.

Cloud taken care of, Zack toddled over to the door, yanking it open. He accepted the pizza box, handing back the appropriate amount to the deliveryman before shutting the door again with his foot. He raised the box triumphantly over his head, swinging about to face the apartment.

"Dinner's here!" he announced, ducking to the right and thus avoiding the pillow that had been flung at him. "Nice try-" He never got to finish his sentence as a second pillow smacked full force into his face.

"Yes!" shouted Cloud triumphantly, jumping into the air, fist held above his head. "Ha! Take that Zack, I finally got you!" His gleeful smile vanished in a second when he realized Zack had let go of the pizza box and was now charging straight at him.

The blond shrieked and scurried behind the couch, hoping to use it as a barrier to fend off his roommate. Zack, however, had a better plan. He merely stepped up on the couch's seat and used it as a springboard to vault himself over the back and dive straight at Cloud like a bomb, bear like arms stretched out before him. Cloud had no chance to escape before he was tackled into a hug, effectively trapping his arms to his sides. With a loud thud they hit the floor.

"Let go!" snapped Cloud, legs flailing wildly.

Zack's grin only grew larger. "Nope!" he answered gleefully.

"Zack!"

"Still nope!"

"I'm warning you when I get free-" growled the blond.

Zack laughed wickedly. "But you have to get _free_ first." Cloud let out an exasperated groan, knowing full well he didn't have a chance in hell of overpowering the 1st class SOLDIER. After a few more seconds of kicking, he just gave up, going completely limp in Zack's arms. The dark haired man's smile drooped slightly with disappointment. There was no way of provoking any sort of response out of the teen once he got like this.

With a sigh, the raven haired man stood, easily pulling the deadweight Cloud with him. The cadet hung like a limp rag doll over his arm, feet dragging across the carpet as Zack lugged him over to the couch. The dark haired man plunked the blond down, allowing the other to flop boneless across the seat before going to fetch the pizza box from where he'd left it by the door. By the time he returned Cloud was sitting up, pressed against one arm of the couch, silently scowling at his roommate.

"Heeey, don't be like that," whined Zack, his infamous puppy dog eyes at full blast. Cloud's scowl darkened, blue eyes trying to bore holes into the SOLDIER's skull. The dark haired man however, ignored this fact, flopping down on the couch beside his roommate. "You put up an excellent fight you know, and you even hit me. I say that deserves a congratulatory slice of pizza!" He set the box down on the coffee table, grinning at the blond who promptly turned away from him.

"What's it matter that I managed to hit you _once_," muttered Cloud into the arm of the sofa.

Zack sat up straight, pizza momentarily forgotten. "What's wrong Cloud?" he asked seriously, his roommate instantly tensing at the question, not making a sound. "What's going on? Is it that bully again? What's he done this time?" demanded Zack but the blond still gave no answer. "Cloud, look at me." Slowly and clearly against his will, the blond turned back towards Zack, his head bowed. "What happened?"

He waited for an answer, but Cloud refused to speak. Several minutes ticked by and Zack finally let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing his forehead. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Can you just drop it?" The blond's voice was barely audible.

"Drop it? Cloud, this has been a problem right from the first day I met you. We have to do something about it."

"Zack, I told you I can handle it."

"Like you have been for the last two years?" retorted the SOLDIER. Cloud shifted uncomfortably, wanting nothing more than to bolt from the room. "I'm not letting this drop again Cloud."

"I figured," sighed the blond quietly.

"So what are we going to do about it, Spiky?"

The cadet's hands curled into fists, clenching the fabric of his pants. "It's my own fault," he whispered. "I bet you never had to worry about stuff like this. If I was… if I wasn't so weak then maybe…" he trailed off, eyes glued to the carpet.

Zack stared wide eye at the blond, utterly shocked by what he'd said. "Where'd you get a stupid idea like that," demanded Zack, anger leaking into his voice, though Cloud didn't seem to notice.

"It's true though," stated the blond, "ever since I was a kid. Only thing I am good at is running away." He laughed coldly at himself. "I wanted to prove to everyone that I could be a SOLDIER… but I couldn't even manage that, not surprising. I am nothing more then a weakling."

"Shove it!" snapped Zack, temper boiling. "You actually think- Of all the things- You- Gah!" He gave a frustrated cry, throwing his arms in the air. "That isn't true, Cloud. That isn't true at all and you shouldn't believe it for a moment!"

Cloud gave him an unconvincing nod. "Yeah, sure."

Zack's frustration went up several notches, but there was nothing he could do. He'd never been good with these kinds of conversations and didn't know what else he could say. He resignedly fell back against the couch, staring absently around the apartment. He knew Cloud wasn't a weakling, but he couldn't think of a way to prove it.

"Hey," called Cloud, catching his attention. "You're pizza's going to go cold."

"Huh? Oh right." With a little more enthusiasm he turned back to the box sitting on the table before them. "You're going to love this."

"I highly doubt that Zack," answered Cloud. He watched his roommate make a show of drawing the box closer, adjusting the edges carefully to be exactly parallel with the side of the table. "Zack." The SOLDIER looked up at the exasperated blond. "Just open it already."

Zack gave him a sulky look. "You're no fun." He complied though, and with a great flourish, opened the box, revealing the pizza inside.

Cloud's jaw dropped. "It's…" he couldn't believe it. "It's normal?" He looked up at Zack again, a suspicion on his face. "Who are you? And what have you done with my insane roommate?"

"Well, I'm Zack's good twin! He's the evil one, you see. And I thought I'd get you a pizza, as apology for the one that made you sick." Of course, the intensely sweet grin that went with this answer didn't make Cloud anymore confident that the food was, in fact, not poisoned.

He raised an eyebrow at Zack. "It's really normal?"

"Yup, just an average pizza, with normal cheese, normal pepperoni, and no extra added Zack... ingredients." He pulled out two pieces, handing one to the blond. "Enjoy!" Cloud studied his slice suspiciously, examining it from every angle. Zack merely shook his head before taking a huge bite of his own.

Cloud slowly nibbled on one of the corners, tasting it and promptly choked. He coughed, he gagged, and he glared at Zack with watering eyes. "That's what you call normal?" he wheezed, tears running down his face. "That had spicy tomato sauce all over it!"

"It was just the sauce!" exclaimed Zack, getting up to fetch the blond's water bottle from the kitchen table. He tossed the bottle to Cloud, who snatched it out of the air, hurriedly yanked the cap off, and gulped the water down.

Once he'd had enough to extinguish his mouth, he wheeled on Zack. "What's the big idea putting hot sauce on pizza!"

Zack's puppy dog eyes returned with a vengeance. "You don't like it?"

The blond stuck his tongue out with disgust. "Your taste buds must be dead, Zack." He stood up from the couch. "From now on I'm ordering the pizza."

"You're the meanest roommate ever!" wailed Zack, throwing himself at Cloud.

The blond easily slipped out of the way, having ample warning this time. "I could say the same thing for you, Zack," replied Cloud with a smirk as the dark haired man hit the ground with a satisfying thud.

Zack looked up at him with large watery eyes. "Y-you don't actually believe that?" he asked in his most pitiful tone.

Cloud was thoughtful for a moment, tapping the top of his water bottle against his chin. "No," he answered after a moment. "No, I don't think you are the cruelest."

"Yay!" cheered Zack, completely missing the evil grin that appeared on the blond's face.

"Because I am!" With that declaration, the cadet upended the remaining contents of his water bottle on Zack's head.

"Hey!" shouted Zack, now completely sopping wet. Cloud laughed wickedly, hightailing it out of the room. "I'll get you for that!" He scrambled to his feet, chasing after the blond who was still laughing evilly at him.

**The door clicked loudly as it shut behind him, leaving him standing silently on the doormat. He stood there, gazing out into the empty room. Dead silence was all that greeted him in the small apartment now.**

**He continued to hover, too scared to move from the safety of the doorway. Now that he was here, he didn't think he would be able to complete this task.**

**But this was something he'd wanted to do for a while now.**

**Tentatively he stepped forward, moving farther into the living room. He paused briefly by the couch, running his hand against its soft surface before continuing his slow creep across the floor. Finally he came to a stop in the middle of the small apartment, taking a deep breath before he finally spoke to the empty room.**

"**I came to…" his voice quivered, forcing him to break off. He stared intently at the ground, searching for the carpet for the courage to continue. "I need to do this," he continued, trying to explain himself. He looked up once again at the dark empty space around him. "I came to put you to rest… so that you can… that I can move on…" He trailed out again, rubbing the back of his head. "That probably sounds incredibly cold of me, doesn't it. But… you have to understand… I finally remember… everything." He stopped again, searching for any sign of those who had once lived here. "Who knows if that's for the better… but, for one, I wanted to… I wanted to say thank you. I'd be dead now if it weren't for you and that's something…" He sighed, not sure not sure how to finish that thought.**

"**So…" he continued, voice echoing around the room. "Thanks… Zack, thank you for…" he faltered again, struggling to speak the last word, "…everything."**

**He smiled even though tears filled his eyes, slipping quietly down his face. He stood there for a long while, just gazing around him, memorizing the details once again. Then with a quiet sigh, he walked quietly back to the door, leaving the small room.**

**The door clicked softly shut behind him, once again allowing it to return to peaceful slumber. It was now the only place, besides his mind, where his memories still lingered, living and breathing within the walls of the small apartment he'd once shared with a close friend.**

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This is one of those one shots that I've been sitting on for a while now, where I've been polishing it and repolishing it. I'd love to hear what you guys think and will greatly appreciate any review! Thanks a bunch for reading it and I hope you enjoyed it.


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